On behalf of our 200,000 members, I salute and congratulate the 340,000 Teamsters who work for UPS on the ratification of their solid new union contract, which delivers much-needed gains for these workers within the same industry as APWU members.
I also want to congratulate International President Sean O’Brien, who led Teamster members across the country in an impressive contract campaign, including the credible threat of a powerful strike, which helped create the power and leverage needed to make these important gains.
UPS made more than $13 billion in profit in 2022. The Teamster negotiating team, led by O’Brien and rank-and-file Teamsters across the country, made clear that Teamster labor created that profit, and that they were prepared to recapture more of the fruits of their labor. Their contract campaign reflected a new and much-needed militancy in the labor movement for taking on the bosses with more unity and worker power.
When one group of workers rise, we all rise, and so APWU members were proud to stand with Teamsters across the country in this bitter contract fight.
As postal workers, our pay and benefits are compared to similar work in the private sector, so the Teamsters’ advances in this new contract only improve our bargaining position as we enter contract negotiations next year.
The Teamster-represented workers at UPS have proven once again that working class people, united in their unions, can take on even the biggest companies in this country, and win the advances they deserve.